All posts tagged Richard Trumka

In the run-up to Labor Day, organized labor’s top official, Richard Trumka, blamed some employers for some of unions’ declining membership numbers, while the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s labor guru, Randy Johnson, blamed unions for offering a product most workers don’t want.

At the Labor Department, Labor Secretary Tom Perez called for a common agenda “to unleash the economy’s full potential” and “secure a better bargain for the middle class and expand opportunities for everyone.”

Mr. Perez, who shared his vision in a pair of Labor Day blog posts and a video Friday, didn’t specifically cite business or unions as the parties who need to find common ground. But clearly, their differences on everything from wages to government regulation could thwart what he said must be a common agenda of creating “jobs, jobs, jobs.”… Read More »

President Barack Obama and Labor Secretary Tom Perez will speak to organized labor at the AFL-CIO’s convention next month, said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.

Mr. Trumka, who talked with reporters over breakfast Thursday at Washington’s St. Regis hotel — an annual event sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor – said Sen. Elizabeth Warren will also address the labor federation’s convention, which kicks off Sept. 8 in Los Angeles. Read More »

One of organized labor’s top officials is retiring, and her likely successor is a younger, immigrant activist who could help advance unions’ attempt to organize more youth and immigrant workers.

Arlene Holt Baker said Wednesday that she’ll retire as executive vice president of union federation AFL-CIO in the coming months, after four decades as a labor activist. Ms. Baker, the first African-American to fill that post, disclosed her plans at the federation’s executive council meeting in Washington, telling the group of union presidents that, “I am not going away, I will be in this movement until the day I die.”

Ms. Baker’s likely successor is Tefere Gebre, executive director of the AFL-CIO’s Orange County Labor Federation. He will be part of Richard Trumka’s re-election ticket this fall when Mr. Trumka runs for AFL-CIO president again in a race expected to be uncontested. Mr. Trumka hasn’t officially announced his candidacy but told the executive council members he intends to run again… Read More »

The head of the nation’s largest federation of unions said that the Obama administration’s delay in employer health-law penalties is “troubling,” and that he hopes the administration will be as accommodating to concerns unions have raised about the law.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka made the remarks in a statement released on Wednesday, in the latest example of organized-labor’s frustration with how the Affordable Care Act they supported is unfolding.

The Obama administration said Tuesday it would delay enforcing a provision of the new health-care law that requires large employers to provide coverage for workers or pay a penalty in 2014, the biggest revision so far to the federal health-care overhaul. The 2010 law requires companies with the equivalent of 50 or more full-time workers to offer health benefits starting Jan. 1—or pay a penalty of at least $2,000 per employee. The delay means that penalty won’t take effect until 2015. Read More »

A top labor official said any immigration bill that forces immigrants to return to their native countries to gain legal status would be a “nonstarter.”

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said Wednesday that a main purpose of immigration reform is to reunify families. Sending immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally back to their countries would undermine that goal, he said.

“That portion of a bill, I think, would be a nonstarter,” Mr. Trumka said.

The New York Times reported a bipartisan group in the House is considering the “touch-back” option, which could require millions of immigrants who are already in the U.S. to return to their home countries before they are able to gain permanent legal status…. Read More »

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Leaders of the nation’s biggest unions are calling for immediate repeal of law that would initiate $85 billion in budget cuts and referred to Republicans who support the cuts as “hostage takers.”

AFL-CIO leaders meeting at an annual retreat in Florida argue that the broad cuts in spending set to begin Friday would increase unemployment, lead to layoffs and pay cuts for nearly a million unionized workers and potentially impact millions of other Americans by interrupting everything from air travel to meat inspection.

“We urge President Obama and members of Congress of both parties to reject the Republican ransom demand and disarm the hostage takers instead,” labor officials wrote in a policy statement Wednesday. Read More »

The AFL-CIO is pushing back against some Republican calls for an immigration program that falls short of full citizenship for the 11 million undocumented workers currently in the U.S.

Richard Trumka, head of the labor federation whose more than 50 unions represent 11 million workers, told reporters Thursday that, as far as organized labor is concerned, full citizenship is nonnegotiable as part of an immigration bill.

“This is a top priority for America’s unions, because a road map to citizenship for all those who are Americans in every way is critical for working people,” Mr. Trumka said. “We’re opening our arms at the AFL-CIO to all of those workers and saying they deserve citizenship.”

Mr. Trumka has been negotiating closely with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on elements of a bill. He declined to go into very many specifics, but outlined several elements that match the chamber’s priorities: a strengthened U.S. border, the use of an “e-verify” system so companies can see if workers are eligible to work in the country, and some form of visa program for workers in short supply. Read More »

Union officials patted themselves on the back Wednesday morning for their role in helping re-elect President Barack Obama, then quickly pivoted to their policy agenda.

On the list: Push elected officials to raise taxes for the wealthiest Americans and block cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Labor officials are also calling for investments in manufacturing, education and infrastructure, a revamped immigration system, and job creation that will strengthen the middle class.

“There are things that the president can do and we’ll be expecting that leadership,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told reporters at a press conference Wednesday. When asked, Mr. Trumka said he also wants labor laws revamped to make it easier for workers to join unions and collectively bargain, though he wouldn’t be more specific or say whether that means labor officials will make a renewed push for passage of the divisive Employee Free Choice Act… Read More »

The game was refereed by replacement officials brought in by the National Football League after it locked out the NFL officials union.

Gov. Walker, perhaps best known for enacting a law that curbed the bargaining power of Wisconsin public-employee unions, was one of many who vented on Twitter, tweeting early Tuesday morning: “After catching a few hours of sleep, the #Packers game is still just as painful. #Returntherealrefs.”… Read More »

The AFL-CIO rolled out technology Tuesday that will let campaign volunteers decide how the labor federation spends its super-PAC dollars.

The broadened launch of the program, called “Repurpose” and until now operating in a testing phase, is part the federation’s push to turn campaign volunteers into activists who can generate votes to elect President Barack Obama and other Democrats in November.

“The more you help, the more power you get to wield,” according to a voiceover in a video the federation showed reporters Tuesday about the new online tool. Richard Trumka, president of the federation of 56 unions, said the tool combines “old fashioned energy and activism with cutting-edge technology.” Read More »

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